There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

SPACE WEATHERNOAA Forecasts

Updated at: 2009 Nov 27 2201 UTC

FLARE

0-24 hr

24-48 hr

CLASS M

01 %

01 %

CLASS X

01 %

01 %

Geomagnetic Storms:Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm

Updated at: 2009 Nov 27 2201 UTC

Mid-latitudes

0-24 hr

24-48 hr

ACTIVE

05 %

05 %

MINOR

01 %

01 %

SEVERE

01 %

01 %

High latitudes

0-24 hr

24-48 hr

ACTIVE

05 %

05 %

MINOR

01 %

01 %

SEVERE

01 %

01 %

What's up in Space

November 27, 2009

SPACESHIP SIGHTINGS: Would you like a call when the space station is about to fly over your backyard? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.

ATLANTIS RETURNS TO EARTH: Space shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center this morning at 9:44 am EST. The STS-129 mission that included three spacewalks and more than six days at the International Space Station has been completed.

THANKSGIVING SKY SHOW: "What a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving!" says Mark Marquette of Boones Creek, Tennessee. "Last night after turkey dinner, my daughter Jesse and I went outside and watched a bright double flyby of the space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station. I photographed Jessie enjoying the show through binoculars."

Mark and Jessie have reason to be thankful. Like thousands of others around the USA, they witnessed one of the last double flybys of the shuttle and space station. In 2010, NASA plans to retire the space shuttle. With only five shuttle missions left, this particular sky show is going to become increasingly rare. Stay tuned to the Simple Satellite Tracker for viewing times.

NORTHERN LIGHTS: This is a good week to be around the Arctic Circle. "Last night (Nov. 25), the skies over the Pangnirtung Fjord were once again filled with dancing lights," reports Claus Vogel from Baffin Island in northern Canada. "We've had dazzling auroras all week." He took this picture using a Nikon D700:

"The half moon provides ideal lighting conditions for photographing Northern Lights. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more in the days ahead," he says.

He may get his wish. The solar wind stream that fueled last night's display is still buffeting Earth's magnetic field. Polar sky watchers should remain alert for auroras.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.